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66 Emory L.J. 839 (2016-2017)
Sharenting: Children's Privacy in the Age of Social Media

handle is hein.journals/emlj66 and id is 863 raw text is: 










    SHARENTING: CHILDREN'S PRIVACY IN THE AGE OF
                               SOCIAL MEDIA

                               Stacey  B. Steinberg*

                                    ABSTRACT

    Through   sharenting, or online  sharing about  parenting, parents  now  shape
their children's digital identity long before  these young  people  open  their first
e-mail.  The disclosures  parents  make  online  are sure  to follow their children
into adulthood.  Indeed,  social media  and  blogging  have dramatically   changed
the landscape  facing  today's children as they come   of age.

    Children   have  an  interest in privacy.  Yet parents'  rights to  control the
upbringing   of their children and parents'  rights to free speech may   trump  this
interest. When  parents share  information  about their children online, they do so
without  their children's consent. These  parents act as both  gatekeepers  of their
children's  personal  information  and  as narrators  of their children's personal
stories. This dual role ofparents in their children's online identity gives children
little protection as their online identity evolves. A conflict of interests exists as
children  might   one  day  resent the  disclosures  made  years   earlier by  their
parents.

    This Article  is the first to offer an in-depth legal  analysis of the  conflict
inherent  between   a parent's  right  to share  online  and  a child's interest in
privacy.  It considers whether   children have  a legal or  moral  right to control
their own   digital footprint and discusses  the unique  and  novel  conflict at the
heart  ofparental  sharing in the digital age. The Article explores potential legal
solutions  to this issue and offers a set of best practices for parents to consider

    * Legal Skills Professor, University of Florida Levin College of Law. J.D., University of Florida Levin
College of Law; B.A., University of Florida. This paper was selected through a blind review process for
presentation at the Section on Family & Juvenile Law 2016 Annual Meeting of the Association of American
Law Schools (AALS). I thank Laura Ann Rosenbury, Dean at the University of Florida Levin College of Law,
for engaging in energizing intellectual discussions that inspired me to write this article. I thank Mary Adkins,
Warren Binford, Stephanie Bornstein, Nancy Dowd, Bahareh Keith, Lyrissa Lidsky, Rachel Rebouche, Shalini
Ray, Benjamin Shmueli, Amy Stein, Ben Steinberg, and Barbara Bennett Woodhouse for their contributions to
this article. I extend my deepest gratitude to my research assistants, Britney Ladd and Megan Testerman, and to
the talented student editors at the Emory Law Journal. This paper also benefitted from the discussion and
feedback of the co-panelists and participants of the AALS Annual Meeting, including Susan Appleton, Maxine
Eichner, Sarah Abramowicz, Joel Nichols, and Jill Hasday.

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